“The old ways that publishers promote books, like TV spots and back-of-book blurbs are over. They don’t sell books in an online world. Those offline marketing tactics have no accountability, whereas online marketing is a metrics game.”
Tag: 07.09.12
Retailers Stick To Boycott Of Amazon’s Hard-Copy Books
Earlier this year, Amazon.com announced a deal with Houghton Mifflin Harcourt to print and distribute in hard copy Amazon Publishing’s e-books. Brick-and-mortar stores – from Barnes & Noble to the independents – refused to carry the books. Now that the first books are ready to ship, stores are standing by their decision.
Chuck Close Versus The Chuck Close Filter
“I never intended to rip off Chuck Close, so when he emailed me in November 2010 threatening legal action, I did exactly what he said and took my filter offline immediately. Still, I feel obligated to point out that Close is the 14th richest living artist, worth a staggering $25 million. I really don’t think any work I make is going to “jeopardize” his career or his livelihood.”
Pulitzer Fiction Juror Tells What Happened In This Year Without A Prize
Michael Cunningham: “On April 16, 2012, the Pulitzer Prize Board announced that it would award no Pulitzer for fiction in 2012. This was, to say the least, surprising and upsetting to any number of people, prominent among them the three fiction jurors, who’d read over three hundred novels and short-story collections, and finally submitted three finalists, each remarkable (or so we believed) in its own way.”
Frances Alenikoff, 91, Grandmother Of Multimedia Dance
“[She] an active participant in the artistic ferment in and around the lofts of SoHo at midcentury and afterward. By the 1950s her work had begun to take on aspects of what would now be called multimedia performance, employing slides and chanting to add color and meter to the dance.” She founded and ran two companies and continued performing into her 80s.
Remembering Woody Guthrie At 100
“Although ‘This Land is Your Land,’ is Guthrie’s most famous song, he is also responsible for thousands of others, an autobiography (Bound for Glory) and scads of paintings and drawings … [in a] relatively brief career – Guthrie’s prime period of productivity lasted little more than a decade.”
Nathan Englander Wins World’s Richest Short Story Prize
“Moving from a peep show to a summer camp for the elderly, from a West Bank settlement to a vodka-soaked Florida get-together, Nathan Englander’s What We Talk About When We Talk About Anne Frank has won the American author the €25,000 Frank O’Connor prize.”
The Decentralization (De-Hallification?) Of Classical Music
“Young composers today are increasingly finding — or creating — outlets for their music in rock and jazz clubs, coffeehouses, and other alternative venues. That’s bringing their music to listeners who otherwise might never have encountered it. It’s also expanding the range of classical (or contemporary or “postclassical”) music being created today.”
What South Carolina’s Governor Said In Defunding The State’s Arts Commission
Haley criticized the amount of overhead in the agency’s budget, with 30 percent of the funds dedicated to administration, personnel, and operating expenses. “Who would donate to a charity that spent that much money on overhead?” Haley asked. “Instead of taking a command-and-control approach to promoting the arts, we would be better off returning these funds to the public, to let them decide for themselves what artistic endeavors deserve financial support.”
‘Occupy’ Movement Welcomed At Documenta – Then Turns On Hosts
“In the last few weeks, groups of Occupy activists have hunkered down in Berlin, where they were invited to take part in this summer’s Berlin Biennale as part of a living exhibition. But protesters ended up turning on their host, demanding an abandonment of its hierarchical management structure.”